This invention relates to an apparatus for honing the endless band that is used in slicing buns and similar bakery goods.
As is well known in the bakery industry, there are machines commercially available and used for performing the slicing function of bakery goods. Bread slicing machines generally employ multiple endless bands that are driven in vertical planes and are spaced-apart the distance of the desired thickness of a slice of bread. The bands are driven so that their cutting edges face the loaf of bread as it travels down a conveyor, and as the loaf passes through the multiple bands, the loaf is cut into the desired number of slices. After a period of time, the blades will become slightly dulled, and it is essential that they be maintained in a sharpened condition so as to cleanly and effectively cut the freshly baked bread before the bread is packaged. Therefore, there have been designed honing attachments which will periodically hone the blades in place while they are operating at their normal speeds. These hones have been designed to simultaneously hone both sides of the blades. An example of such a honing apparatus is shown in Hansen U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,650 which discloses apparatus for honing both sides of multiple blades of a bread slicing machine simultaneously while the blades are running at their normal speed. This particular apparatus, however, requires two separate hones each of which is independently mounted and independently actuated so as to engage the opposite sides of the blade. Earlier versions of honing apparatus for bread slicing machines are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,997,825 and 2,961,809. In the case of the production of buns, such as hamburger buns and the like, the slicing operation is commonly done using a single endless blade that is driven in a horizontal plane and which is positioned in the path of the buns traveling horizontally on a conveyor. Because these machines employ only a single slicing blade, they are in many respects simpler than bread slicing machines. However, the problem of honing the blade while the blade is operating at its normal speed still exists. Because there are a variety of different bun slicing machines commercially available, they differ sufficiently that there has not been designed a honing apparatus that can be attached to an used with all of these machines. In fact, for whatever reason, there is not available an effective honing apparatus for a bun slicing machine, especially an apparatus that will hone both sides of the blade simultaneously.
Because honing of the blade will increase its useful life substantially, there is therefore a need for a honing apparatus for bun slicing machines, especially such an apparatus that can be used with the variety of machines commercially available. Such an apparatus would have to provide sufficient adjustability to adapt it to the different designs of bun slicing machines that are available, and should also be one that is relatively simple and low in cost. It is therefore the primary object of the invention to provide a honing apparatus for honing the blades of bun slicing machines by honing both sides of the blades simultaneously. It is a further object of the invention to provide such an apparatus that is easily adaptable to any of the commercially available bun slicing machines.